In Singapore, several concerts, including the performances by the South Korean boy bands WINNER and iKON, will take place in the second half of 2018. But, the police has advised people to stay away from probable online ticket purchase scams.

In a news release, the police said that in 2017, they found at least 120 reports of online fraud cases that involved the sales of the concert tickets and the victims either did not receive the tickets or have received fake and invalid tickets after the online purchase.

The police have listed a few crime prevention measures that will help the citizen to avoid such scams. These are:

Don’t be impulsive – Be wary of online advertisements of concert/show tickets at cheap prices that sound too good to be true! Do not buy on impulse. Purchase tickets only from authorised sellers as far as possible.

Don’t believe – Scammers may use a local bank account or provide a copy of an NRIC/driver’s licence to make you believe that they are genuine sellers. Do not fall for it!

Don’t give – Avoid making payments or deposits in advance. Try to use shopping platforms that release your payment to the seller only upon receipt of the item. Alternatively, arrange to meet the seller and contact the authorised ticketing service provider (e.g. SISTIC, Sports Hub Tix etc.) to check the authenticity/validity of the tickets prior to making payment.

If anyone wants to know more about such scam related pieces of advice to secure themselves, then they can call the National Crime Prevention Council’s anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or also can visit the portal www.scamalert.sg.

Police also asked people to share this information with their friends and family to secure them from such online scams.